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FY 22 IWC DCO Reserve Board

fy18dco

Active Member
Do you find that, once trained [and pinned], extremely qualified people do a noticeably better job once they're in? Or does the lack of actual time doing the job (if they're not mobilized) act as a ceiling for how well they can perform?

Oof, great question. Absolutely depends on the person. The qualification (in theory) should establish that baseline knowledge for doing the Navy job but the Reserve is also notorious for pencil-whipping qualifications and boards.

In general, I would say the DCOs tend to be more mature and can leverage that outside professional experience when it comes to managing sailors or dealing with the day to day minutiae of Navy life. I think what is often overlooked here is that officers are not on the line doing much of the work regardless of your designator. That falls on your enlisted sailors and your job is more of a mid-level manager than anything else (with exception, of course).

You also see DCOs who think because they had X job in the private sector, they somehow are better at their Navy job than their peers (happens a ton in the DC area). Those people tend to not stay in the Reserve very long.

That being said, your active component peers will just be much more experienced in doing the actual job.
 

GCJ8404

Member
Because it is a highly competitive program and they only want to take the highest skilled and most educated people as possible...to ensure they can do the Navy job that the Navy must train them to do. Not because the Navy (and even more specifically/ironically the Reserve) is interested in learning some best practices BS from the private sector...

21 year olds out of ROTC/Academy/OCS will go to the same IP training and do the same IP job as you (when you're on active duty), hard stop.

There is a need for extremely qualified people to come in as IPs to fulfill a requirement for IPs in the Reserve (to support the active component...yes those same 21 year olds with no certs, higher degrees, etc.)

It's a manpower (numbers) game. It's not to leverage civilian experience or whatever to improve how IPs in the fleet operate. Since it's a numbers game, why not only take the highest GPA, best interviewing, most certificate/degree-having applicants? Gotta rank them some how.
Okay...that makes sense. However I will beg to differ on your statement of "best practices BS from the private sector." My interviewers (O4, O5 and an O6) seemed to be very interested in my understanding and application of AI and ML, and how we use it in the private sector. But again, I understand it's a numbers game as you've stated. I may not even get selected, so we'll see how it all goes.
 

fy18dco

Active Member
Okay...that makes sense. However I will beg to differ on your statement of "best practices BS from the private sector." My interviewers (O4, O5 and an O6) seemed to be very interested in my understanding and application of AI and ML, and how we use it in the private sector. But again, I understand it's a numbers game as you've stated. I may not even get selected, so we'll see how it all goes.

...as someone who is currently in and doing this, they don't care how your company uses AI/ML in the private sector. They care that you as an applicant know what it is, how it's used, whether or not you've had hands on experience with it, and if you more broadly understand its application as it relates to national security. They ASK you that question because the IP board is specifically instructed to ask applicants about AI/ML. Not because the Navy is hoping to learn a few tricks about AI/ML via a reserve officer.
 

GCJ8404

Member
...as someone who is currently in and doing this, they don't care how your company uses AI/ML in the private sector. They care that you as an applicant know what it is, how it's used, whether or not you've had hands on experience with it, and if you more broadly understand its application as it relates to national security. They ASK you that question because the IP board is specifically instructed to ask applicants about AI/ML. Not because the Navy is hoping to learn a few tricks about AI/ML via a reserve officer.
Very well...thanks for the information. I'm fine with whatever the Navy asks me to do, and I'm not attempting to act like some "big shot" who wants to show his "stuff" to the Navy. I'm happy to make coffee if they ask me to.

So given your level of knowledge and experience, what are some of the key strengths that help with getting selected? Many of us on here are excited about the prospects and would love to know an insiders viewpoint.
 

nothanks1

Member
I got a picture of the list of 1815s that were selected. 5 of the 7 are 02.
B, Bradley
R, Murphy
T, Orr
A, Seward
P, Souza
S, Spotted
L, Urbauer
 

GCJ8404

Member
I got a picture of the list of 1815s that were selected. 5 of the 7 are 02.
B, Bradley
R, Murphy
T, Orr
A, Seward
P, Souza
S, Spotted
L, Urbauer
That's great news for you and the folks you've listed. This is a long shot I know, but are you able to see any 1825 selections?
 
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